I’m impressed with how quickly your build has progressed! Ours moved slowly. It took just over two months for us to get from dig to fill. We had lots of rain delays though. It felt like it rained all of November.

Your pool is looking good! I agree with you that the mud hassle is SO real. At least you’ve still got a deck to oversee the pool construction. Our back door opened straight to mud for two months. It was so annoying. Anytime we wanted to check out the pool it meant getting muddy.

My advice is to download the pool school book and read it all. It’s the TFP bible.
You can download it here:Pool school book
Also I’ve attached the NPC plaster start up card. It saved my life. The TFP website went down switching to this new platform the day after my pool was filled. This is what you’ll need to do to care for your plaster for the first 28-days. Be sure you order your TF-100 kit, speed stir, and a wall whale brush. The wall whale makes brushing(which you will do a lot) so easy. Highly recommend it.

Can’t wait to see your pool when it’s done. Lots of good info and people here. I love reading build threads. It helped me learn and it’s great to see people’s dreams come to life. I even read SuzfromTexas entire 78-page build thread. That was amazing!

Hope the rest of your build is trouble free!

And keep the pic’s coming!

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Well-known member

I’m impressed with how quickly your build has progressed! Ours moved slowly. It took just over two months for us to get from dig to fill. We had lots of rain delays though. It felt like it rained all of November.

Your pool is looking good! I agree with you that the mud hassle is SO real. At least you’ve still got a deck to oversee the pool construction. Our back door opened straight to mud for two months. It was so annoying. Anytime we wanted to check out the pool it meant getting muddy.

My advice is to download the pool school book and read it all. It’s the TFP bible.
You can download it here:Pool school book
Also I’ve attached the NPC plaster start up card. It saved my life. The TFP website went down switching to this new platform the day after my pool was filled. This is what you’ll need to do to care for your plaster for the first 28-days. Be sure you order your TF-100 kit, speed stir, and a wall whale brush. The wall whale makes brushing(which you will do a lot) so easy. Highly recommend it.

Can’t wait to see your pool when it’s done. Lots of good info and people here. I love reading build threads. It helped me learn and it’s great to see people’s dreams come to life. I even read SuzfromTexas entire 78-page build thread. That was amazing!

It has gone by quickly which we are grateful for. PB said 30 days and he's been pretty close to it. The other PB we almost went with also said 30 days and started a pool down the street the day after us is filling today. Pretty impressive but this is a race I was willing to not race. We wanted them to take their time when they were here. I wouldn't say anyone has cut any corners while here.

I've printed some stuff off from Pool school but didn't get the first 28-day printed off, thank you!

Have to work OT tonight (Friday) so Saturday will be a long day of waking up early to be with concrete guys.

It has gone by quickly which we are grateful for. PB said 30 days and he's been pretty close to it. The other PB we almost went with also said 30 days and started a pool down the street the day after us is filling today. Pretty impressive but this is a race I was willing to not race. We wanted them to take their time when they were here. I wouldn't say anyone has cut any corners while here.

I've printed some stuff off from Pool school but didn't get the first 28-day printed off, thank you!

Have to work OT tonight (Friday) so Saturday will be a long day of waking up early to be with concrete guys.

I agree speed is not the focus. Quality of work matters most. As long as they are doing it correctly and quickly, it’s all good!

No problem on the NPC card. Like I said, it saved me when the TFP site went down. Kim tried to give me a heads up about the site going down for a few days but it ended up happening sooner than she thought. I was literally trying to open her message about it when the site went down.

Deck was poured yesterday and it went well. Will upload all of the photos tomorrow. For whatever reason, this is the only one that is coming over as a jpeg in my email.

Forecast isn't looking good for this week for WetEdge to come but we have it scheduled for Friday when I'm off. Fingers crossed.

I did clear with our PB that he isn't doing any sort of "deck-o-seal" in between coping and concrete deck. We only want it for aesthetics. Anyone have any reasons NOT to do it and leave it with the fraction of an inch gap? Will add another picture of it to the thread today or tomorrow.

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attached are the deck photos from Saturday. It was a good day for pouring concrete in Texas. Overcast for the entire day so it wasn't drying up too fast. Got a small rain overnight with more overcast, so really it's been the perfect storm for laying some deck out.

Pavers at some point this week pending weather.
WetEdge Friday pending weather.

We are torn between Tahoe and Tropical but going with Tahoe unless anyone somehow has any horror stories. If you have or know someone that has Tahoe post a picture, we'd love to see a good testimony but it's a long shot.

Had a question in last post and there is a better picture attached below. Deck-O-Seal joint between coping and concrete or leave it as it is? The gap is growing on us but for whatever reason feel like it's "incomplete". PB said he doesn't do it.

Got some unpaid OT in and went ahead and added another drain on the right side of the pool that will tie in to channel drain and some gutters from the house. Wasn't 100% necessary but for $45 and a 1.5 hours of work I'd say it's some good insurance to have...

Window for hand-prints was during nap time and they actually took naps that day! We did initials at the end of the driveway otherwise the deck in the backyard would have had the cool-deck sprayed over it.

Problem with gaps is stuff getting in them over time. Not really a big deal so long as you keep up with getting it out. Does the gap go all the way to ground? Could water get in there and wash the dirt out from under the decking? Just giving you some things to think about as I am like you and like how it looks with the gap but want you to know the problems that could come up.

Good job getting your little helper to dig that trench for the drain. He does good work! An ounce of prevention is worth a lot for the peace of mind it provides!

That open area on the house side of the spa...................what is going in there?

Well-known member

Problem with gaps is stuff getting in them over time. Not really a big deal so long as you keep up with getting it out. Does the gap go all the way to ground? Could water get in there and wash the dirt out from under the decking? Just giving you some things to think about as I am like you and like how it looks with the gap but want you to know the problems that could come up.

Good job getting your little helper to dig that trench for the drain. He does good work! An ounce of prevention is worth a lot for the peace of mind it provides!

That open area on the house side of the spa...................what is going in there?

OH man that is going to look SO neat! Here is hoping your crew will be true artists with sharp saws! Talk about added interest with that decking! When will they start doing that? Hey carrying the stone will be the purrfect job for the little helpers!

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Hopefully this week. Weather is pretty iffy this week and he's got another job to finish up laying pavers down the street. Today is supposed to be a decent day but tomorrow looks pretty bad. I think I speak for everyone on this site when I say I'm ready for it to warm-up. It's probably a good thing though to had some crappy weather when our pool is done so we aren't tempted to turn the heater on too soon and just let the pool do it's thing... too many lame rules in that 28-day start up guide y'all are guilting me in to...

Well-known member

Got a nice surprise just now. Clean-up crew came and got rid of most of the trash/extra clay dirt and brought some sand in to level things out. Now the only problem we have is our boys know what sand is REALLY used for...

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They've already gotten in there and torn it up. I've given up hope and will just smooth it back out when we get the sod delivered. I'll probably be putting down some toptoil/compost down in between sand and grass anyways.

Had my dad come over last night and help plan out putting a safety fence up. Got a super nice one that's in great condition with a solid gate off of Craigslist last week and we are going to be drilling in to some pavers/concrete and digging posts in the yard. Trying to get that done before water is in the pool this weekend if weather holds up.

Uploaded pictures from the PC. Typing up today from the iPad...standby!

Edit:

We’ve had our only delays in the building process between deck and plaster with a slew of rainy days and scheduling with my days off from work. PB wanted to plaster last Monday but I was working. Rescheduled for Friday and it got rained out with no info on rescheduling. Got a phone call from PB at 0630 today saying they were headed our way with a zero % of rain, sunny and 65. Bring it on!

It went well. Convinced old school PB we wanted toe-tiles on steps and spa although he didn’t want to and thought plaster guys wouldn’t either. We asked and they said no problem. I just don’t think he wants to warranty it. Oh well. They are in and we are happy with how they turned out.

The sun never came out and it was actually windy and cold the entire time. With about half an hour left it started getting dark, thundering and lightning. With five minutes left, hail started falling from the sky!

We got a small handful of some small pellets but picture attached is 3 blocks over! Incredible and typical forecast for Texas

Acid wash and fill tomorrow. Got hoses and rags with zip ties ready. When old school PB questions what the heck I’m doing with rags on hoses what exactly can I tell him to leave me alone about it?

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